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Wouldn’t it be great if you had a robot chef that could make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? You would have to program it by giving it very specific instructions.

That is how children and their parents start learning about coding in the Family Creative Learning (FCL) PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. workshops. The families learn to animate their favorite PBS KIDS characters using the PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. app on Playtime Pads, a tablet that they get to keep at the end of the workshop.

KLRU and our local children’s museum, Thinkery, hosted a fun FCL PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. workshop in October. Nine young children and their parents learned concepts of coding by reading books and participating in fun movement activities. They built paper airplanes to practice using the design engineering process (imagine, plan, build, test, repeat).

The children and their parents created animation projects together. Parents learned from their kids as much as the kids learned from their parents. You could see a lot of smiles in the room.

One child was very excited when he shared: “Now my mom knows technology & can do it with me!”

We hope that all families feel just as empowered that they can now create their own animations.

KLRU also partners with Communities In Schools (CIS) to host workshops. This month, 8 families that are part of their ASPIRE family literacy program are currently participating in a Family Creative Learning PBS KIDS Scratch Jr. workshop. Those families are just as excited and are having a blast learning how to code.

Also, this month 8 additional families are participating in the new Ruff Ruffman Sensational Science Family Creative Learning workshop at Thinkery. The Ruff Ruffman FCL workshop will help children learn science by playing with mixtures, investigating material science, exploring force and motion, and creating structures.

They will also learn about those topics by watching short Ruff Ruffman videos and playing digital games on Playtime Pads (tablets that they will get to keep).

FCL workshops are part of the Ready to Learn (RTL) initiative funded by the Department of Education and administered by the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and PBS. Our Community Collaborative for Early Learning and Media (CC-ELM) project brings RTL science and literacy content to children ages 2 to 8 from low-income households as well as their families and educators. KLRU partners with local community organizations to host workshops at their sites for the children that they serve. Our partners are Thinkery, Communities In Schools of Central Texas, and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area.

The solar eclipse on August 21st is fast approaching. You can watch it live on KLRU Q starting at 1:30 pm.
Follow the links to explore ways to engage kids as they learn about the solar eclipse. And by all means, do NOT let them look directly at the eclipse when it occurs without special protection!

In addition to the above resources, NOVA will be airing a special episode called Eclipse Over America on Monday, August 21 at 8:00 pm on 18-1 KLRU. It will air 2 days later on Wednesday, August 23rd at 7:00 pm on 18-1 KLRU.

For younger students, you may want to show the kids the 13 minute Ready Jet Go!Total Eclipse of the Sunspot episode that teaches kids about the solar eclipse and how to create a pinhole box viewer to be able to see the eclipse without hurting their eyes. Airtimes

Now is a difficult time to be a young child with immigrant parents in Central Texas. They may be hearing from adults, from the news, and in their schools about actions such as raids, deportations, and negative statements about immigrants. Even if they are not hearing such things directly, they may be feeling the stress of others in their homes.

KLRU Educational Services has the following advice and resources for families and educators:

1. Do NOT keep the TV or radio news on all the time when young people are present. Try to find ways to receive your news (via text message, social media, etc.) that can be silent and that will not keep your children nervous as they wait to hear what comes next. PBS KIDS offers safe, happy programs 24 hours a day through the PBS KIDS Video Viewer app and online at pbskids.org

3.Arthur Resilience Site (ages 5-10) This website from Arthur has a variety of activities that can take you step by step through conversations and activities with your child. It includes discussion guides, activities, and videos to help your child manage thoughts and feelings.

The Austin Chapter of The Links, IncorporatedLiteracy Links Program was a huge hit with the 1st – 3rd graders at Oak Springs Elementary School of Austin ISD. On December 19th, members of the organization shared Electric Company magazines and resources from klrukids.orgwith 120 students in 7 classrooms. The materials were STEAM-focused and intended to equip students with resources for continued educational development over the Winter Break. Students who brought their completed magazines when they returned to school in January received special recognition for the accomplishment.

The Austin (TX) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated is committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. They serve the Travis, Williamson, Hays, Blanco, Caldwell, and Bastrop counties.The Literacy Links Program’s goal is to emphasize closing the elementary achievement gap by promoting effective literacy practices.

If you have been hearing this as of late (or maybe since school let out), realize that letting kids remain bored for a while can actually lead to them developing their own creative solutions. If you have given that a try and a) your home is damaged as a result; or b) they really need help finding something new to do, check out this link:

We are amazed at this three-tier “chocoflan” from the kitchen of Anacleta and her daughter Adriana. They made it to help celebrate their graduation from KLRU’s Play to Learn program at Padrón Elementary in Austin.
This school year, we have had over 200 participants in Play to Learn, a ten-week program for adults and their children ages 2-4 in which they explore a variety of ways to have fun together in activities that are great preparation for future school life. Along the way, they pick up lots of resources to continue the fun at home and on the go, including books, paints and markers, and a Samsung Galaxy Tab loaded with educational apps.

¡Books, books, books! Sesame Street announced today a new FREE collection of stories in English and Spanish called “Reading Adventures.” You can get to them from this link – they work on computers, phones and tablets: http://www.sesamestreet.org/games…‪#‎klrukids

On Tuesday, August 18, 2015, KLRU took part in a White House convening around the ConnectHome initiative, the plan to provide low-cost/free high-speed connectivity in over 275,000 low-income residences across the US and on tribal lands. Austin has been selected as the mentor city for the project due to collaborations including the City of Austin, HACA, Google, Austin FreeNet, United Way for Greater Austin, and KLRU, among others.

KLRU’s role in the panel was to share our work on Play to Learn™, the United Way-led initiative that brings parents and youth ages 2-4 together for a variety of fun learning activities, including the use of digital tablets. Throughout the ten-week program, the families take home books and learning materials and upon successful completion of the program, they take home a digital tablet loaded with educational apps for the whole family. We utilize PBS resources to illuminate at-home learning experiences, including video from PBS Kids, apps like PBS Parents Play and Learn and Daniel Tiger’s Day and Night, and KLRU’s own Smart Screen Time®/La Pantalla Inteligente messaging. Play to Learn™ is a powerful example of the kinds of programs that can occur once a low-income community gets reliable and affordable access to the Internet.